Elihu - what is meant by דֵּעַ - 'dei' in Book of Job - knowledge or opinion?

Question

5 verses in the Book of Job contain the Hebrew word דֵּעַ - 'dei' - Strong's #1843 (derived from Strong's #3045)

• Job 32:6 - and afraid to tell you what I think (dei).
• Job 32:10 - to me, I too will tell what I think (dei).
• Job 32:17 - my share, I also will tell my opinion (dei).
• Job 36:3 - I will fetch my knowledge (dei) from afar
• Job 37:16 - The wonders of one perfect in knowledge (dei),

All these verses are spoken by Elihu. According to Strong's Lexicon these are the only verses in Scripture that use 'dei" - Strong #1843.

As shown, the word is variously translated as knowledge or opinion. I know of nothing other than a translator's (or a consensus among translators) interpretation of the verse that influences the choice between translating it as knowledge or opinion. Are there other factors that help determine how the word should be translated in these verses?

Answer 1

The OP is right that there are other factors here. A stronger word study is needed with better tools than Strongs, and I'm afraid the other factors might not have been entirely positive. But see what you think:-

Of course a Hebrew word won't be likely to map across perfectly into the same single English word every time.

דֵּעַ didn't open questions about God's omniscience. That's arising largely from English making knowledge and opinion into contrasting things - which it does with lots of pairs of words, to make up for its general lack of syntactic markers and particles. English has to do things by context and having most of the words in the shared vocabulary implying some converse or opposite helps it to get away with that.

Strongs lexicon is pretty futile for this particular word study, because it only counts the words in the work that's trying to be studied. A list of other places where the book of Job uses dei can't tell us much.

What's needed from a lexicon is what other writers used the word for. Have cognate forms been checked? What about Aramaic and Chaldean? What does the LXX use?

Gesenius has more usages:-

https://archive.org/details/geseniushebrewch0000samu_l2q1/page/204/mode/2up?q=+%D7%93%D6%B5%D6%BC%D7%A2%D6%B7

Isaiah 11:9 - - the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea

Isaiah 28:9 - - To whom will he teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message?

So that's דֵּעַ being used of God's knowledge being taught to a mortal, with the emphasis being on difficulty of transmission.

Psalm 73:11 - - And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”

Proverbs 24:14 - - Know דְּעֶ֥ה that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

Jeremiah 22:16 - - Is not this to know הַדַּ֥עַת me? declares the Lord.

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So back to these places where the translations read opinion:-

Job 32:6 - and afraid to tell you what I think (dei).

Some translations read 'knowledge' and the opinion is that knowledge comes from God... so probably knowledge is quite safe!

Job 32:10 - to me, I too will tell what I think (dei).

Job 32:17 - my share, I also will tell my opinion (dei).

These two should be treated as a single usage because v17 is a run-on from v10 and by v17 he still hasn't said what he knows yet.

Again, some translations do read 'know' and what he says he knows is that (after a huge long build-up) God made him and breathed life into him. So again that's pretty safe to read 'knowledge'. It might be claimed knowledge, he might be starting a lie with a truth, but that's the word he used.

And a very good reason for translating that way is that knowledge is our language's most neutral-register term for mental inventory, whereas opinion has a diminished/disparaged register. It's a word we should be careful with.

Did the LXX agree?

Job 32:6 - - ἐπιστήμην

Job 32:10 - - ἃ οἶδα

Job 32:17 - - (not rendered in translation)

Job 36:3 - - ἐπιστήμην

Job 37:16 - - ἐπίσταται

Isaiah 11:9 - - τοῦ γνῶναι

Isaiah 28:9 - - ἀγγελίαν

Psalm 73:11 - - γνῶσις

Proverbs 24:14 - - σοφίαν

Jeremiah 22:16 - - τὸ μὴ γνῶναί

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(The reason for consulting the LXX is we've a far larger corpus of surviving Greek texts, so we can be surer of what a Greek writer means by ἐπιστήμη than what a Hebrew writer means by דֵּעַ.)

The usages in Job are being rendered consistently in Greek with ἐπιστήμη which is knowledge, particularly gained by experience or acquaintance with a matter or scientific knowledge (Liddell & Scott 1897, p.555).

The related Hebrew forms attract slightly different Greek translations, but γνῶσις and σοφία are firmly in the same mental realm as ἐπιστήμη and hold the same presumed truth-value.

So it starts to look like the translations that have Elihu "thinking that" or "opining" might be inventing a contrast with the omniscience of God, perhaps because they want to look pious by putting down Job's opponent. Or wanting to soften even a momentary conflict between two righteous positions - because y'know: home groups, things are simpler in black and white, don't scare the fish, et cetera. Which would be indefensible translation practice - it looks to be inherited from KJV and even makes its way into ESV and YLT. I am agog.

The contrast is surely there - but it's brought out by Job's using the same word not a different one.

The commentaries tend to buttress this criticism of the translations, with Gills, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, and Keil and Delitzsch qualifying "opinion" as "knowledge" and the Pulpit Commentary as "conviction".

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UPDATE (19/08/24 - 21:55)

LXX have λαλήσω in two places, so I suppose they might have found a smidgen of negative register on one of the other Hebrew words, and shifted it to this verb of speech, and then KJV do something similar. That would need a wider study of the passage I'll have a look and edit if I can find anything. 32:17 חֶלְקִ֑י can imply 'seductive' speech but the derived sense of a portion of the speaking time seems natural enough to discount that.

Answer 2

Knowledge is typically defined in philosophy as justified true belief. For a belief to be considered knowledge, it must meet three criteria:

1. Truth: The belief must be true.
2. Belief: The individual must believe it to be true.
3. Justification: There must be sufficient evidence or reasons to justify the belief.

Notice that where דֵּעַ is translated as “knowledge,” it refers to God’s perfect understanding, which inherently meets all three criteria. God’s knowledge is absolute and infallible, meaning it is true, believed by God, and justified by His omniscience.

Opinion, on the other hand, does not necessarily meet these criteria, especially justification. An opinion is: a personal belief or judgment that may or may not be based on facts or knowledge. Opinions are often subjective and therefore vary from person to person.

Where דֵּעַ is translated as “opinion” (Job 32:6, 10, 17), Elihu is expressing his personal insights or judgments if you will. They may be informed by his observations or interpretations, but they do not carry the same weight as divine knowledge. They may lack the full justification that would elevate them to the status of knowledge.

Let's attempt a breakdown:

Knowledge (דֵּעַ as used in Job 37:16)

• God is perfect and omniscient.
• A perfect and omniscient being has true beliefs.
• A perfect and omniscient being has justification for those beliefs.
• Therefore, God’s beliefs are knowledge.

Opinion (דֵּעַ as used in Job 32:6, 10, 17)

• Elihu is a human with limited understanding.
• A human with limited understanding can have beliefs without full justification.
• Therefore, Elihu’s beliefs can be opinions.

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The BDB calssifies it this way:

[דֵּעַ] noun [masculine] knowledge, opinion (late) — only suffix דֵּעִי Job 32:6 3t., and plural דֵּעִים Job 37:6; all in speech of Elihu.

1. knowledge, ׳תְּמִים ד Job 37:16 one perfect in knowledge (of God).

2. judgement, opinion Job 36:3; חַוֹּת דֵּעִי Job 32:6 to declare my opinion, so Job 32:10; Job 32:17.

An interesting note is that the BDB puts Job 36:3 under opinion or judgement.

However, the use of “afar” suggests a depth and breadth to the knowledge Elihu claims to possess. It implies that his understanding is not superficial but is derived from a profound or distant source, possibly even divine inspiration or wisdom that is not readily accessible.

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In Job 36:3, the context suggests Elihu is speaking about knowledge he has obtained "from afar".

• The NLT says: I will present profound arguments for the righteousness of my Creator.

Job 37:16 refers to God’s perfection in knowledge, implying a more absolute sense of the word.

In Job 32:17, 32:6, and 32:10, Elihu is expressing his thoughts and judgments, which leans more towards “opinion.”